History & Estate

Some 2,600 years ago, in the time when Pompeii and Milan were being founded, Gallo-Romans were already cultivating the hillsides of Châteauvert, irrigated by the Argens River, deep in what would ultimately become Provence.

Back then, from this soil nourished by numerous pure springs, people produced wheat, oil, wine, fruits, and vegetables. This was the birth of the Domaine de Margüi, its ancient existence evidenced by the ruins and amphorae discovered on the property in 2002.

In the 17th century, the estate was owned by a family from Aix-en-Provence. In 1784, they built the main house in the distinctive style of the bastides aixoises of that day: a lime-coated facade, nearly 6,500 square feet spanning three floors, all connected by a magnificent staircase, with many windows opening onto the French formal garden. As with other Provençal middle-class properties of the same era, the ensuing years saw the addition of 3 new buildings : The Magnanerie, the Bergerie and the Observatoire.

The property survived a challenging period during World War I, when there was a shortage of land-maintenance labor and a number of forest fires debilitated the estate.

In the 1920s and 1930s, bumper crops of melons, apricots, almonds, wheat, grapes, and olives restored the estate’s prosperity of old.

The inheritor of the property sold it in 1999 to Marie-Christine and Philippe Guillanton, who breathed new life into Château Margüi’s winemaking activities.
Beginning in the year 2000, the vineyards were replanted, the main house was renovated, and a chapel was built against the west façade.